MIT faces civil rights complaint for alleged discrimination based on race and gender

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was hit with a civil rights complaint on Monday, with the complainant noting one of its programs only allows “women of color” to participate.

The complaint, filed by the Equal Protection Project with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, focused on the Creative Regal Women of Knowledge, a racial minority and women’s only program at MIT. However, the program also considers biological men who identify as women eligible, according to its website.

“Unfortunately, many colleges and universities have bought into the ‘anti-racist’ activism claim that the remedy for past discrimination is current discrimination,” William A. Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, said. “Such ‘reverse-racism’ and ‘reverse-sexism’ is just racism and sexism, and it is not the answer.”

“The CRWN eligibility requirements are openly racially and sexually discriminatory,” Jacobson continued.

On its website, the CRWN says it is designed exclusively for “women of color (WOC)” to “move confidently as visionaries, grounded in excellence, empathy, and support for one another.” It clarifies that “women of color” only means black, indigenous, Hispanic or “Latinx,” Asian, Pacific Islanders, and other “minoritized ethnicities.”

Some stated purposes of the group are to “enhance and strengthen community amongst WOC” and “support positive racial/ethnic, cultural, gender identity, self-awareness, confidence.” Participants are eligible for up to $400 for professional development.

“The harm from racial educational barriers is that it racializes not just the specific program, but the entire campus,” Jacobson said. “Sending a message to students that access to opportunities is dependent on race is damaging to the fabric of campus.”

In response to a request for comment from MIT, Abby Abazorius, school senior media relations specialist, said, “MIT does not, as a practice, comment on legal matters.”

The complaint cited August 2023 guidance from the Office of Civil Rights, stating, “In determining whether an opportunity to participate is open to all students, OCR may consider, for example, whether advertisements or other communications would lead a reasonable student, or a parent or guardian, to understand that all students are welcome to participate.”

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Pointing to its stated purposes and requirements for participation as well as its application, which asks prospective participants extensively which racial, ethnic, or gender groups they identify with, the complaint stated, “Any reasonable person would understand that all students are not welcome to participate.”

The Equal Protection Project says the program violates Title VI and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.